Wythe County

Every storm within 100 miles

1. Tropical storms and hurricanes (34 kt or more, still tropical) at closest approach. Post-tropical remnants with gale-force winds are listed but not counted. Direct: track within 50 miles; near: within 100 miles. Distance is measured to the county boundary for counties and to the city centre for cities, using positions interpolated hourly between HURDAT2 fixes.

National Hurricane Center HURDAT2, 1851 to 2025.

Every large fire

1. Large fires mapped by the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity program since 1984: 1,000 acres or more in the West, 500 or more in the East. Prescribed burns are excluded. Acres here are the part of each perimeter inside this place.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), 1984 to 2026.

Smoke overhead

1. A smoke day is a date on which a smoke plume traced by NOAA Hazard Mapping System analysts from satellite imagery covered this place's point (the county's population centre or the city centre). Counts here are of medium or heavy smoke. Since 2018 analysts have often drawn light smoke as one area over most of the continent, so light-smoke counts are not comparable from year to year. The plumes show smoke anywhere in the air above, not air quality at the ground, and smoke hidden by cloud is missed.

NOAA Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, 2011 to 2026, retrieved October 30, 2026.

Claims by ZIP code

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026. NOAA Storm Events through 2026.

River crests

River gauges

1. Crests are the highest and the recent crests the National Weather Service lists for each river gauge in the county that has a flood stage, not every flood. Flood categories use each gauge's current flood stages; crests from before levees, dams or channel changes may not be comparable. Crests measured on an old datum are left out of the rankings.

NOAA National Water Prediction Service gauge records, retrieved October 30, 2026.

1. The Palmer Drought Severity Index is computed by NOAA each month from the county's average temperature and precipitation, relative to the county's own climate. Zero is normal; -3 or lower is severe drought and -4 or lower extreme drought. It describes the long-term balance of moisture, not water supply or crop losses.

NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, 1895 to September 2026, issued October 6, 2026.

Every earthquake of magnitude 4 or more within 50 miles

1. Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more in the USGS Comprehensive Catalog since 1900. Within 50 miles means the epicentre lies within 50 miles of the county boundary (or inside the county).
2. Small earthquakes were under-recorded before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s and are still missed in remote areas, so early decades read low. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them and mix scales (moment, local and body-wave).

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, 1900 to present, retrieved October 30, 2026.

More event types since 1996

Costliest events since 1996

1. Sep 27, 2024High Wind, Wythe$17.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   Trees were downed countywide by high winds associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene. Over 10,000 customers were reported without power by 3 PM on Friday. Agricultural damage totaled over $22 million, including losses from vegetables and crops, livestock, and facilities, land and infrastructure. Damage to fencing, structures, and land accounted for the greatest portion of total agriculture losses.

2. Sep 26, 2024Flood$1.0 million
   National Weather Service narrative

   The New River near Ivanhoe (IVNV2) crested at 33.08 feet (119,940 cfs) at 8:45 PM EDT on Sept. 27th (28/0045 UTC) due to heavy rain associated with Tropical Cyclone Helene. This is the third highest crest in the history of this gage, behind the flooding events of August 1940 (1st at 38.10 ft) and July 1916 (2nd at 34.80 ft). This crest rates around a 200-year Average Recurrence Interval (ARI), or a 0.5% Annual Exceedance Probability per USGS StreamStats. The flooding was the result of between 10 and locally 20 inches of rain that fell across the upper New River basin between the 25th and 27th, with totals ranging anywhere from between a 200-year and more than a 1,000-year ARI per…

3. Jul 4, 1997Hail$500,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm that travelled from Tazewell County to southern Pittsylvania County during the evening hours on the 4th produced damaging winds and hail up to golf ball size and slightly injured 5 people. Another severe thunderstorms traveled across northern Pittsylvania during the evening hours on the 4th.A series of downbursts from one mile west of Richlands to Cedar Bluff slightly injured five people, damaged or destroyed three mobile homes, tore the roof off a house, damaged 45 homes and 29 businesses, uprooted hundreds of trees, broke off tree limbs, knocked down utility poles and utility wires, and damaged signs.The combination of hail up to golf ball size and winds…

4. Jul 4, 1997Thunderstorm Wind$300,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A supercell thunderstorm that travelled from Tazewell County to southern Pittsylvania County during the evening hours on the 4th produced damaging winds and hail up to golf ball size and slightly injured 5 people. Another severe thunderstorms traveled across northern Pittsylvania during the evening hours on the 4th.A series of downbursts from one mile west of Richlands to Cedar Bluff slightly injured five people, damaged or destroyed three mobile homes, tore the roof off a house, damaged 45 homes and 29 businesses, uprooted hundreds of trees, broke off tree limbs, knocked down utility poles and utility wires, and damaged signs.The combination of hail up to golf ball size and winds…

5. Apr 13, 2020Flash Flood$161,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Several roads were reported to be flooded and blocked. These incuded Justus Mill Road, St. Peter Road, Cripple Creek Road and Hope Road. Millers Creek Road was damaged by flowing water from Miller Creek. Information on damage to roads and infrastructure provided by Virginia DOT.

6. May 21, 2022Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds destroyed a mobile home and flipped a shed onto several vehicles along Kiser Road. No one was injured.

7. Jun 3, 1998Hail$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorms during the late afternoon and evening of the 3rd produced damaging winds and hail up to 2.00 inches in diameter.Thunderstorms winds toppled large trees in Stuart and caused a transformer to catch fire.Hail in Wytheville damaged cars, roofs, and broke out windows.

8. Jun 29, 2012Thunderstorm Wind$100,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   Thunderstorm winds blew many trees down. A combination of wind and falling trees also brought down power lines. Damage values are estimated.

9. Apr 16, 2007High Wind, Wythe$80,000
   National Weather Service narrative

   A few trees were blown down across the county. A building was blown onto Interstate 81 near exit 86.

10. May 26, 2024Thunderstorm Wind$75,000
    National Weather Service narrative

    An estimated one hundred trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds in the Max Meadows area. One of the downed trees caused severe damage to a single-wide trailer and a vehicle. Members of the public also reported that hundreds of tree limbs and several large tree limbs were downed by thunderstorm winds in Carters Park off Lee Highway.

1. Storm Events records before 1996 cover only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail. Damage figures are as reported by the National Weather Service at the time, not adjusted for inflation.

NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 1950 to 2026, issued October 26, 2026.

All-time high

98°F4 times, most recently Jun 30, 2012

All-time low

−20°FJan 21, 1985

Warmest night

77°F2 times, most recently Aug 18, 2010

Coldest day

−3°FJan 21, 1985

Wettest day

4.85 inJul 18, 1964

Snowiest day

16.0 inJan 7, 1996

Hottest year

1949mean 56.4°F

Coldest year

1997mean 50.2°F

Wettest year

202065.31 in

Driest year

193021.36 in

Snowiest season

59.3 in1986-87

Station Wytheville (USC00449301), 2,095 ft elevation, 1.2 miles from the population centre. Daily records from 1893 to October 23, 2026; 96.9% of days in the last 30 years are complete. Records at a single station can differ from a city’s official threaded record, which may combine several stations.

NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily.

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).

OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries, retrieved October 30, 2026. Statewide declarations are not listed.

Neighbouring counties

• Tornadoes NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, through 2025.
• Tropical cyclones NOAA National Hurricane Center HURDAT2 (Atlantic; Northeast and Central Pacific), through 2025.
• Wildfire USGS/USFS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity, through 2026.
• Storm events NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, through 2026.
• Flood insurance OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3, refreshed August 4, 2026.
• Declarations OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Weather records NOAA NCEI Global Historical Climatology Network Daily, station USC00449301.
• River crests NOAA National Weather Service, National Water Prediction Service river gauges, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Drought NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county Palmer Drought Severity Index, through September 2026.
• Smoke NOAA NESDIS Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis, retrieved October 30, 2026.
• Earthquakes USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog (ComCat), retrieved October 30, 2026.

Joins, thresholds and known limits are set out in the methodology. Found an error? Report it. Page built October 30, 2026.